I have not seen a Goliath puzzle before. From the general feel of the puzzle I’m guessing that Goliath is a new setter rather than an established one setting under a new pseudonym.
There were several places where, for me at least, the clueing was a bit wide of the mark. Notwithstanding, this was a very enjoyable solve and I hope that Goliath comes back again with some more. Thank you Goliath.
| Across | ||
| 1, 6 | ELECTRIC GUITAR | Tragic ruin, almost destroyed by pick axe (8,6) |
| anagram (destroyed) of TRAGIC and RUIn missing last letter (almost) following (by) ELECT (pick) – definition is ‘axe’. Excellent clue! The solution seems to be completely unrelated to the clue. | ||
| 9 | SCANTY | Spare pen is able to be slipped in (6) |
| STY (pen) with CAN (is able) inside (to be slipped in) | ||
| 10 | ANISETTE | A compiler from Ulster not quite drunk in Provence (8) |
| A NI SETTEr ( a Northern Irish setter, a setter from Ulster perhaps) missing final letter – definition is ‘drunk in Provence’, a typical drink of southern France | ||
| 11, 22 | JANE AYRE | Born in a bad year after the end of the Raj, settled on Rochester (4,4) |
| NEE (born) in YEAR* bad=anagram following raJ (end letter of) – I think ‘settled’ means Jane chose Edward Rochester for her husband, though I am not sure. | ||
| 12 | HELICOPTER | The police operation needs right transport (10) |
| (THE POLICE)* anagram=operation with R (right) | ||
| 14 | SHOPLIFT | Appropriate alternative to flight in store? (8) |
| definition and cryptic definition – appropriate=steal and an alternative to a flight of stairs in a shop. |
||
| 16 | See 18 | |
| 18, 16 | FLEA BITE | What makes Tom feel a bit irritated? (4,4) |
| (FEEL A BIT)* anagram=irritated – definition is sort of &lit. Another one that does not work for me. For this to be truly &lit the anagram would have to be (TOM FEEL A BIT) or similar. If this is a standard clue then the definition will be ‘What makes Tom’. | ||
| 19 | EAR PIECE | One of two sound producers, each about right on Beethoven’s third (8) |
| APIECE (each) containing (about) R (right) all before (on) beEthoven (third letter of) – definition is ‘One of two sound producers’. Beethoven’s third is now very hackneyed, but I am glad that setters still use these old chestnuts from time to time as it would be a shame if newer solvers never get to see them. | ||
| 21 | HYPERBARIC | Somehow bear externally chirpy disposition under great pressure (10) |
| BEAR* anagram=somehow inside (with … externally) CHIRPY* anagram=disposition – definition is ‘under great pressure’. This could have been clued as a single anagram (BEAR CHIRPY), but breaking it up makes the clue much trickier to parse. It didn’t make the solution difficult to find though as BEAR CHIRPY still jumped out out as an obvious anagram, even if I couldn’t explain why at the time. | ||
| 22 | See 11 | |
| 24 | VOCATION | O for a holiday as career! (8) |
| VaCATION with O replacing (for) A | ||
| 26 | OR ELSE | Instead of a threat (2,4) |
| double definition – a bit too straightforward as the meanings of the words in two definitions are essentially the same | ||
| 27 | ADHERE | Stick notice in this location (6) |
| AD (notice) HERE (in this location) | ||
| 28 | EDIFYING | A challenging report can be educational (8) |
| sounds like (reported) “a defying” (a challenging). We have ‘reported’ as a homophone indicator in 8dn too. Another one that doesn’t quite work for me as I would pronounce these “eh-defying” and “ah-defying” (as in “bed” vs “bad”). | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | LYCRA | Some silly craze for skin-tight garments (5) |
| found inside (some ) silLY CRAze. A nice surface. | ||
| 3 | CONTEMPLATE | Think about Tory blueprint (11) |
| CON (Conservative, Tory) TEMPLATE (blueprint) – definition is ‘think about’ | ||
| 4 | RHYTHMIC | Regular myth, rich in variety (8) |
| (RICH MYTH)* anagram=in variety – definition is ‘regular’ | ||
| 5 | CHARLOTTE BRONTE | Writer’s dramatic end with fallen woman having no better alternative (9,6) |
| dramatiC (end letter of) with HRLOT (fallen woman) having (NO BETTER)* anagram=alternative – author of 11,22. | ||
| 6 | GLITCH | Fault of girl’s heartless longing (6) |
| GirL (heartless, no middle letters) with ITCH (longing). ‘Heartless longing’ seems to be a bit of a contradiction in terms; this isn’t a complaint, just a random thought on my part. | ||
| 7, 25 | ICE AGE | Police agent’s chill-out time? (3,3) |
| found in (‘s, belonging to) polICE AGEnt. Well disguised, it took me a while to spot this. | ||
| 8 | AUTHENTIC | Real gold with next credit report (9) |
| AU (gold) with THEN (next) and TIC sounds like (reported as) ‘tick’ (credit) – definition is ‘real’ | ||
| 13 | PUBLIC ENEMY | Local infestation by unknown people raised a threat to all (6,5) |
| PUB (local) LICE (infestation) with Y (unknown) MEN (people) reversed (raised) | ||
| 15 | HOLLYWOOD | Buddy has a club in Tinseltown (9) |
| Buddy HOLLY has WOOD (a club). Easy but nice. | ||
| 17 | BROCCOLI | Green Bond producer (8) |
| double definition – vegetable and Albert Broccoli, producer of the James Bond films | ||
| 20 | OBLIGE | Accommodate force (6) |
| double definition | ||
| 23 | RESIN | About 1 in 7 deadly ones is a plant extract (5) |
| RE (regarding, about) SIN (1 in 7 deadly ones, one of the deadly sins). Bizzarely I found this the hardest clue of all. My first guess was RICIN, a deadly plant extract. I then adjusted this to RESIN, pronounced “ree- sin” as a possible alternative spelling that I was unable to find anywhere. I was unable to make the mental jump from long vowel to short. So I guess this counts as excellent misdirection! | ||
| 25 | See 7 | |
*anagram
Thanks for the blog, PeeDee.
I think you’ve missed the definition – ‘appropriate’ – in 14ac, which I thought was a good clue. I also liked 12ac and 1,6 [use of pick axe] – good surfaces throughout.
11,22 is NEE in an anagram of YEAR, to give JANE EYRE – another very nice clue.
I enjoyed Goliath’s first puzzle and look forward to more.
Thanks Eileen, that does make 14ac into a good clue. My apologies to Goliath!
Have read through this blog twice and just got the reference to ‘Tom’ in 18,16, as I couldn’t see what he had to do with it. I thought this was very reasonable, especially if it was a first time for the setter.
I am a newcomer to the FT crossword found through this blog. I used to do The Times crossword until they made it too expensive and a friend told me about the Guardian’s philanthropy in providing their puzzle freely on line.
I can’t tell you how much enjoyment Fifteensquared adds to my daily brain work out, so very many thanks to all concerned!
Many Thanks PeeDee.
Also Many Thanks and A Hearty Welcome to Goliath.
More of the same please, Goliath, but do watch out for anyone called David. He’s much more dangerous than he looks.
I usually agree with PeeDee, but thought today he was a bit prickly with Goliath. The only clue I didn’t get on with was 28ac EDIFYING for the same reason as PeeDee. I too hadn’t come across Goliath before, and am glad I have. Welcome aboard, Goliath.
PS I discovered fifteensquared about 18 months ago, and agree with almw3. A real treasure.
I had the exact same experience with resin/ricin. A bit of a curate’s egg, some nice stuff, some duff. Felt like I was taking on two different setters.
cheers pd and goliath whoever you are.
Hi Hornbeam. I didn’t intend the post to come across as prickly as I enjoyed the puzzle. But useful to know as it is always good to understand how others read ones posts.
There were only three clues that I felt didn’t work – one was my mistake, one you agree with, so I don’t think we can be too far apart in our thinking.